From the gold rush to the Internet boom, the US District Court for the Northern District of California has played a major role in how business is done and life is lived on the Pacific Coast. When California was first admitted to the Union, pioneers were busy prospecting for new fortunes, building towns and cities—and suing each other. San Francisco became the epicenter of a litigious new world being cobbled together from gold dust and sand dunes. Its federal court set precedents, from deciding the fate of Mexican land grants and shanghaied sailors to civil rights for Chinese immigrants. Through the era of Prohibition and the labor movement to World War II and the tumultuous sixties and seventies, the court’s historic rulings have defined the Bay Area’s geography, culture, and commerce.

Sponsored by the Northern District Court’s Historical Society and told by veteran journalists, The Court That Tamed the West presents the region’s history through a new lens, offering insight along with great storytelling.